


The Gift of Love

by SakuraBlossomStorm



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Surrogacy, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Pregnancy, Slow Burn, Smut, Surrogacy, single parent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 22:54:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11746881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakuraBlossomStorm/pseuds/SakuraBlossomStorm
Summary: Ben is desperate to start a family, but after his most recent break-up, he realises it won’t be easy. Instead, he decides to look in surrogacy. Enter Leslie Knope, who’s willing to give him the best gift of all - her uterus on loan.





	The Gift of Love

**Author's Note:**

> So I finally decided to get around to posting this. It's just the prologue for now, but more will come into it later on. 
> 
> It's un-beta'd so probably riddled with mistakes, but hey, what's life without some mistakes! 
> 
> Comments and kudos are so unbelievably appreciated.

“You want to have a baby?”

Ben shifted a little in his seat and nodded. “Yeah. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”

Chris stared at Ben, a surprised look etched on his face. “But how? Who will… be the other part if you know what I mean?”

“I’m going to look into surrogacy,” Ben said. He pulled a pamphlet out of his back for a fertility clinic in Bloomington. “There are women there who voluntarily do this. They either donate eggs or act as a surrogate and you end up with a baby at the end.”

Ben had done most of his research on it. Checking out clinics and speaking to specialists who would help him find the best result. At the end of it, Ben thought that surrogacy would be best. He could find someone in the clinic who was willing to help and would grow the baby for nine months and hand it over to him.

Simple, right?

Wrong. There were so many other logistics to work out. Whether the surrogate would have any part in the child’s life. He’d have to work out how much he’d need to pay the woman involved for check-ups and pre-natal vitamins. But as Ben continued to research everything, he soon found out that it was everything that he wanted.

A baby that was a part of him. Someone who’d look up to him and think the world of him. Someone who would need him to nurture and care for. 

Now the next part was to tell Chris his plans. Chris was his best friend, so Ben felt extremely comfortable in confiding his plans to him. Probably since he’d be the person he’d end up talking to the most about all this. He had made the journey to his office where he worked as an auditor and laid everything bare. 

“Is this because Megan broke up with you?” Chris asked, leaning forward onto the desk.

Megan. No, this was nothing to do with Megan. If anything, it was a blessing. She didn’t want kids. She’d groan every time they would be in a restaurant and a family sat near them. She’d huff and make a scene when they were in the store and a baby started crying. Really, her dumping him was the best thing to ever happen to Ben.

Because being with her and seeing her hatred for children, just made him want them more. 

“It’s nothing to do with Megan,” Ben said. Sure, he would have loved to be happily married with a woman and they could decide together when to have kids, but things don’t always work out as planned.

Chris studied Ben for a moment. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

“I’ve never been so sure in my life,” Ben said. “I’m not exactly getting any younger, and it’s something that’s always been plagued in the back of my mind, now I actually want to take the plunge to do it and raise a baby. A baby that’s mine.”

Chris rose from his desk and walked around to where Ben was sitting. He leaned against it and patted Ben on the shoulder.

“Then I’m going to be nothing but supportive. This is _fantastic_ news, Ben. This little baby is going to be loved and nurtured and grow up with an excellent father. I put myself down for babysitting duties right away,” Chris said.

Ben smiled at him. The baby hadn’t even been conceived yet and Christ was already planning everything. He was pretty sure after he’d leave Chris would start looking up vitamin supplements that could be put into milk.

That was the next step, to actually find a woman to help him with his plan. The fertility clinic had a website where you could chat to potential surrogates. It was like a weird backwards dating thing, where you could pick your partner, get a baby, and then go your separate way.

When Ben arrived back at his office, he was relieved to see it empty. He assumed that his colleagues had gone to lunch. He currently worked as a political consultant for the Mid-West and was based in Indianapolis. A busy, bustling job, but one that wouldn’t impact his current way of thinking.

He angled his computer screen so that if someone did come back, they couldn’t see what he was doing. Taking a deep breath, he logged onto the website.

It was strange. Women had to set up a profile with a small description about themselves, and then have to provide all the basic information. Height, weight, any hereditary illnesses. Ben scanned through the lists, taking in each profile and making notes on the ones that stood out to him. Really, he shouldn’t be so picky, but he also wanted to get someone who he could get on well with, someone that would make this whole thing as easy as possible.

As he clicked onto the next page, a profile caught his eye. This woman, specifically number 30024, had the shortest description. But one that made him want to learn more.

_‘Yellow haired female likes waffles and news.’_

Ben wasn’t sure if it was the terribly vague profile opening, or that he also liked the new, but he found himself clicking on the profile, and pressing the message button.

~~

It had been five days since Ben messaged account number 30024, and suddenly he found himself waiting in a diner in a small town just an hour away from Indianapolis.

Pawnee, Indiana was strange. It was small and there seemed to be an awful lot of raccoons around, but it had charm. Especially this tiny diner. Everyone here seemed friendly and happy.

After chatting very briefly to his potential surrogate, he had found out that she lived here, and it wasn’t so hard for him to get to. The annoying thing was they couldn’t exchange names. So instead, Ben was looking out for a ‘yellow haired female.’

This really was like some surreal blind date.

Soon, the door opened, and Ben looked up. There, in front of him was a petite, blonde woman. She tucked a curl behind her ear and scanned the room nervously.

Ben was on his feet. This must be her. He hurried towards the door and cleared his throat anxiously.

“Excuse me, are you account 30024?” he asked, hoping that she’d say yes.

The woman smiled. “Yes, that’s me.”

Ben breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God. I didn’t want to have to explain myself to some random person why I was looking for a woman with a number.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and gestured towards the table he was at. The woman took off her coat and sat down opposite him.

“So…are we allowed to tell each other our names now?” Ben asked, his throat suddenly extremely dry. “I’m sorry, I’m so nervous. This is my first time actually talking to someone from this site.”

The woman smiled again. “Don’t worry, it’s my first time too. And I want to tell you my name, I guess that’s the point of this, to find out everything about each other.” 

She stretched out her hand. “My name is Leslie Knope.”

Ben grasped her hand, it felt soft under his. “I’m Ben Wyatt.”

“Ok, so…that’s names done. Did you find this place ok? I come here all the time, I thought it would make me less nervous if we spoke on home turf,” Leslie admitted.

“It was fine, it’s not too much of a long drive,” Ben said. “I kind of like it round here.”

“Pawnee is the greatest city in America,” Leslie said confidently, she signalled at a waitress, who nodded and walked into the kitchen, seemingly knowing exactly what she wanted.

Wow, she must really come here a lot.

The waitress soon appeared with a plateful of golden waffles, on top was a mountain of whipped cream. Leslie’s eyes bulged and she eagerly dug in.

“So, I’m sure you probably have a bunch of questions for me,” Leslie said after her first mouthful. “And I bought you something.”

She reached down into her bag and pulled out a filled binder. She placed it on the side of the table, and Ben looked at it. There was a picture of a for rent sign on the front, Ben couldn’t help but chuckle.

“In there are dental records, blood test reports. I’m in perfect health to carry a baby. I don’t smoke either, but I do like a beer every now and then. So, I guess it’s just whether you want to pick me as your surrogate,” Leslie said, folding her hands on top of the table.

Ben looked at the first couple of pages and smiled at Leslie. “Wow, this is all so thorough. Can I ask why you decided to even do this? I mean, it’s not exactly going to be easy for you… what’s you’re motivation here?”

Leslie looked down at her hands. “Well…I had a really bad break-up recently. My ex decided to move to San Diego for work and…we just kind of decided to end things. It was hard, but rather than sitting around doing nothing, I wanted to get active and help people. For some reason, this just seemed to appeal to me. I got the idea from a couple I know at this gay bar here, they wanted a baby and were looking into surrogacy. When they finally got one they just seemed so complete and happy, and I thought if I can give someone that same gift, then that would make me really happy.”

She grinned. “I thought it would happen really quickly. But I’ve been on that website for over a month and no one’s picked me. I guess competition is tough.”

Ben suddenly had the urge to reach out and stroke her hand. She seemed so genuine and sweet. Someone that Ben really wanted to get to know better. 

“I’m sorry about the break-up,” Ben said. “I get that. My girlfriend recently dumped me too, which is why I’m looking into this. I’ve always wanted a baby, she didn’t. So in a way it kind of worked out, but this means that I’m having to seek out someone like you to…um….do the hard work I guess?”

“It’s not the hard work,” Leslie said. “I think I’d be great pregnant. I’m very active, it’ll have to take more than just nine months of carrying a baby to slow me down.”

Ben chuckled, taking a sip of his coffee. “Of course I’ll pay for all the doctor visits and vitamins and whatever you’d need. And at the end of this, you’re more than welcome to be a part of the baby’s life.”

Leslie’s eyes shimmered. “I’d like that. I can be the fun Aunt that makes scrapbooks with them.”

Ben raised his eyebrow. “Scrapbooks?”

Leslie blushed. “I like to make scrapbooks. Is that lame?”

“No, not at all,” Ben said, quickly shaking his head. “I like it.”

Ben looked at the binder, and then back up at Leslie. “You seem like a really great person. I mean, I know we’ve just met but I really do think that, if it’s ok with you, I’d like you to be the one carrying my baby.”

Leslie’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious? Wow, Ben…that would be amazing. And really, I know that I kind of wanted to go it for a gay couple, but you’re a great second best!”

She wrinkled her nose. “Wait, that was stupid I shouldn’t have said that.”

Ben shook it off. “No it’s fine. I’m sure you probably had your preferences too.”

“But you’ll make a great dad, and I can’t wait to actually get to know you properly over the next few months,” Leslie said. “I mean, there’ll be plenty of doctors visits and Lamaze classes for us to go to, right? Plus we have to plan the whole thing and organise to actually do the…insemination.”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, that’s true.”

He then frowned. Suddenly it felt weird to have to inseminate this woman who he’d only just met, and in return she’d give him a baby. 

That’s what he needed to remember, he was getting a baby at the end of it. And he’d be willing to actually put in the work to be friends with this woman.

The waitress came over and put the check down, Ben quickly reached for it, despite Leslie pulling out her purse.

“No, this is on me, don’t worry about it,” Ben said, grinning at her.

“Are you sure?”

“Leslie, you’ve just agreed to carry my baby. I’m not letting you pay for a plate of waffles,” Ben said.

Leslie slowly put her purse away. “Alright, if you insist. Unless you want to stay here for a little while longer and get to know each other?”

Ben paused, and placed his wallet back on the table. “Ok, I guess I could go for another cup of coffee. So, Ms, Knope, tell me, what do you do for a living?”

“I work at the Parks Department here,” Leslie said. “It’s great, I love what I do. It’s so fulfilling. What about you?”

“Me? Oh, well I’m a political consultant for campaigns,” Ben said.

Leslie’s eyes widened. “Really? That’s awesome. Maybe you can run my campaign someday.”

Ben grinned. “What will you be running for?”

“President, of course!” Leslie said eagerly.

And, as the day went on, they got to know as much as they could about each other. Ben learned about her father passing away when she was ten, and Leslie learned about his estranged family, and how he vowed never to let any child feel the way that he had to about his parents.

Next thing they knew, it had hit 3 in the afternoon, and they had stayed in the same spot, drinking coffee and sharing platefuls of waffles. And Ben soon realised that he had found the perfect match in Leslie Knope.


End file.
